Do As I Say….

You know how I’m always advising you to try to get local help whenever possible…because it saves you shoe leather and helps you get great pictures? Well, sometimes, I don’t listen to myself, and that’s when I get into trouble.

Well you can’t really call it trouble if you’re getting snaps like that of the Church of the Assumption on Bled Island in Lake Bled, Slovenia above. No, I have to admit, it’s pretty hard to miss in this incredibly beautiful lake in the Julian Alps. I got this one with a D300s, 16-85mm VR lens and a Singh Ray LB Color Combo Polarizer.

Check out a few other views of this lake after the jump, and a description of the shot that got away….

I covered the Lake with my usual thoroughness. I found the angle at the head of the post, a nice late afternoon shot. And then I waited until twilight and got this one:

All well and good. Things are rolling, weather wise. The next day, Peggy and I take a boat out to the island itself and shoot from there, catching the distinctive gondolas, called pletnas, with the Bled Castle and the Julian Alps in the background:

Later that afternoon, I shot a 70-300mm VR view of a pletna making it’s way out to the island….the same polarizer, tripod etc. to get the view on the left.

I had been watching the weather to make sure I had the prime time to take the strenuous hike up the mountain behind Bled Island to get a super overview that is the iconic shot of this Lake.

I checked with the tourist office, got a small map of the hiking trail, and then Peggy and I did the late afternoon slog, and I do mean slog, up the side of the mountain….and promptly got lost in the woods!

Oh, we were sooooo close to nailing that killer shot, but we took everyone’s assurance that the trail was “well marked” to heart instead of hiring a guide, which is what the little voice in my head was urging me to do (as it does anytime I’m required to leave the pavement to go into “nature.”).

What can I say? You can take the boy out of Jersey City, but….well, you know the rest!

Turns out that most of the folks giving us the advice hadn’t been up there in years…or at all.

So we were stuck up in the woods, sucking wind, and looking at the fantastic view through a thick veil of trees!

We searched around for trails as much as we could until the sun set, and had to make our way back down before darkness came, otherwise we would have twisted an ankle, blown our next stop on the assignment, or even worse, missed dinner.

16 Comments

Bob don’t you know when climbing into a mountainous forested area you should carry the new NIKON chainsaw. It opens up the view angles to any specification. Wide Angle, set chainsaw meter to weeeeeennnnn….weeeennnnnn…presto instant view.
As you know I prefer Canon not only for versatility bit when loaded with 105 mm shell’s it gets me clear shots in a pinch.

Bob, any chance you took that top fantastic daytime shot of the church on Bled Island using a black and white filter? I’m wondering how the shades of green on the trees on the island appear with such a filter.

Hey Bob! I was in Bled just shy of 2 years ago and fell in love with the place, as well as with Ljubljana. It’s wonderful that you can walk all around the lake in less than 3 hours (and that’s shooting all the way). Unfortunately I had no clouds the day I was there, but I loved every minute of it. Take care, RV

Hi Bob!
Im really liking your pictures of our lake Bled.
I live in Kranj. Its a nice place and is built around the inflow of Kokra into Sava. The old part of the towns centre is really nice, mainly because there isnt that many people, there are nice old buildings and in the background some hills. Anyway i really like your pictures
regards
Maj

Hey Bob,
Great Work! I don’t know which I love more, the late afternoon shot or the twilight one. They are both just fantastic. I’ve been there myself more than once. Stuck in the woods looking for a clearing as the light goes magic… At least you didn’t miss dinner though.
-Hudson

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